


The Race to Her Heart

by Amateurhosuefic



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Autism, F/F, Hosie, autistic hope mikaelson, fangirl josie, racecar driver hope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-01-15 06:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18492904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amateurhosuefic/pseuds/Amateurhosuefic
Summary: josie loves all things cars. when she goes to the salvatore annual car show, she meets her favorite racecar driver. hope mikaelson, who she may have a crush on but shhhh, dont tell anyone. its a seeeccrreettthope loves racing. shes been driving with her dad her whole life. when she lost him, she thought she would never be happy again. also her pr team forced her into the closet and gave her a fake boyfreind so theres that





	1. the car show

**Author's Note:**

> hopefully this one is formatted a little better and easier for you guys to read, its still trash but im working on it lol. basically hope was originally going to be a wanted car thief but im saving that for another fic so, enjoy nascar hope.

“I don’t give a damn ok?.... wait one second bonnie” Caroline placed her phone against her chest so she could address the two puppy eyed children in front of her. Ok teenagers but it’s not her fault they grow up so fast.

“mom? Can lizzie and I go to the car show this weekend with dad? “ Josie asked.

Lizzie wasn’t much of a car girl but her sister lived for them and seeing her light up whenever she talks about them makes her happy so, lizzie will suck it up and go with her sister to every car show from now until the end of the world so long as it means josie will be happy.

“we know he usually takes dorian and emma to the show every year for his birthday but maybe we could tag along?” lizzie asked hopefully.

“if your father is ok with it I don’t see why not.” She said before returning to her phone call with her friend.

Both girls gained giddy smiles and josie hugged her sister as tight as she could smooshing their faces together in the process.

“thanks lizzie, I know how much you love cars” josie said sarcastically

“whaaat pfft… no. I love cars, and their…. Engines and stuff” she said attempting to convince her twin that she actually knows how cars work. Given her previous experiences trying to do things as simple as filling the gas tank, no amount of convincing would really work anyway.

Josie quirked an eyebrow.

“ok fine, I hate cars BUT, I don’t hate you so its worth it.” She said nonchalantly 

“what an understatement, you know you love me” josie said smiling.

“so sorry about that, im terrible with my words sometimes”

“haha I know, remember when that guy at school-“

“raphael” lizzie interjected with a dreamy smile

“raphael, that you have a lot of secs” she said laughing her ass off

Lizzie groaned facepalming “ugh don’t remind me” she said over josies howling laughter.

Somehow even though josie was cackling like she was insane, the girls managed to hear keys jiggling in the lock followed by their father entering the house. Not entirely sure why they locked it but they did.

“hey daddy” lizzie said tossing on her best “give me stuff” face. She rarely got to use it but seeing as tickets were nearly impossible to get a day before an event this big, she was gonna need her a-game pouty face. Josie had a resting pout so she didn’t need to throw in her all like lizze did. (she takes her pouty face very seriously).

“about that car show….”

 

 

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Hope shifted gears in the car again driving faster and faster until finally cutting the wheel hard and spinning around effectively backing in between two high end sports cars flawlessly.

She got out of the car tossing the keys to landon who fumbled with them but didn’t drop them this time luckily.

“showoff” he said

“oh ssshhh you know you love it” she said smirking.

“I do” he said.

“so did kaleb ever say how many more trucks bossman has coming in?” she asked the boy as they began walking

“wwweeeellllll, we have the 45 for this row and about 6 more rowns thataway and then we have to leave 4 rows open of the cars that people paid to have slots opened for them because they don’t trust you to park their expensive ass cars” he said

“I could never guess why” she said as she made her way to the towtruck to get the last car off of the ramp. Quite a lovely yellow lamborgini actually.

“me neither” he said unbuckling the wench from the front of the car while hope took the cables off of all for tires.

“its like they think we are gonna take em for joyrides or something” she said releasing the final cable and easing the car down the ramp with landon.

“I know! We would never do such a thing” he said tossing hope the keys and hopping into the passenger seat.

Hope started the car and revved the engine.

“some people are just so dramatic” she said punctuating the sentence with a quick snap back motion of the shifter knob and press of the sport mode button. Hope sped off climbing to 100 mph easily before making a few quick turns through the lot never slowing down before pulling to the next row and parking the car in a similar fashion to the last car. Hope pulled a paper bag out of god knows where handing it to landon.

“you’ll get used to it” she said grimacing at the retching noises coming from her fake boyfriend.

Hope shut off the car and helped a queasy landon out of the passengers seat.

“hey! When you guys are done making out or whatever damon has another truck that should be pulling in in a few! Stefan yelled to the teens.

“joy” landon said still feeling nauseous. He was so gonna make damon pay for this one day.

 

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Saturday, April 21st

“why did we start all this only yesterday? We had to park like 800000000 cars” hope asked

 

“because klausette, I like to make you suffer sometimes” damon said

“sometimes?” hope said smirking

“ok all the ti-……HEY! YOU BUDDY! YEAH YOU SPEAKERS GO ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ARCH OVER THERE! BUD-“

Hope was poked on the shoulder

“sup landon” she said to the curly haired boy

He looked up “uh, the sky, ya know, birds n shit” he said

Hope punched him in the shoulder “dumbass”

“im pretty sure this thing starts in 2 hours” hope said

“so?” landon asked

“I, can get out of here” she said walking away

“can I come with?!?” he yelled at her retreating form

“whatever” she said nonchalantly

“sweeettt”

 

 

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“josie calm down oh my god” lizzie said.

“but you don’t understand”

“understand……” lizzie trailed off

“Hope fucking Mikaelson is gonna be there” she said excitedly

“who?” lizzie asked

“Klaus mikaelsons daughter….. the youngest racecar driver to win the cup…..”

“I thought that was Joey Logano wasn’t he like 19 when he won?”

“he was the youngest. Until hope competed and won the cup at the age of 16 two years ago” josie said.

“I still have no idea who she is although it is cool that she’s more accomplished that we are and she’s only like half a year older than us” lizzie said

Josie pulled up a shit ton of pictures of the driver.

“this is hope” she said handing the phone to lizzie.

“why do you have like 8 million pictures of her in your gallery?” lizzie asked squinting as she looked through josies extensive archives

“no reason!” she said stealing the phone back and blushing.

Lizzie quirked a brow.

“girls! Hurry up or we will never get parking!” alaric yelled up the stairs

“oh shit, throw on your t shirt we gotta go” josie said urgently tossing her a black t shirt that had the Salvatore logo written across it

“why do we have to wear these?”

“because, damon Salvatore thinks its too easy to sneak into events without something that shows you belong there and he hates the mess that wristbands leave, so he figured that t shirts were the next best identifier to avoid things like last year where that group of kids ruined 40 cars and no one told him stamps are a thing” josie said grabbing lizzies hand and pulling her down the stairs as she tried not to trip with lizzie still putting her shirt on. Its like she does it in slow motion or something.

Josie practically vaulted into her fathers’ jeep while lizzie strolled down the driveway at a pace far to slow for josies liking.

Eventually they did make it to the even. A little later then planned much to josies dismay, but they made it.

 

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“dear god, remind me to never get in a car with you again” landon said hyperventilating next to the car.

“you are being such a drama queen, I only circled the track a few times” she said smirking to the disheveled boy.

“haha” he said still catching his breath

 

“come on, if im late to damons thingy he will probably kill the both of us” she said pulling landon to his feet.

“when you said you were leaving I thought you would go literally anywhere else. Like an ice cream shop, or a bookstore, not try to kill me”he said referring to hopes reckless driving

“im pretty sure doing 100 in a 45 is illegal” he said 

“yeah but if im gonna drive a supped up honda civic, im gonna do it fast and the furious style every chance I get.”

She was glad she had a few different cars for racing and street racing because her tiny honda civic would not cut it on the track but a little friendly competition on the road couldn’t hurt ya know?

Landon rolled his eyes and stepped into the passenger seat preparing for more high speed turns and dramatic speeds. He was really gonna need to lay down after this.

 

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“hey ric, how’s it goin dude?” dorian asked pulling alaric into a bone crushing man hug much to his wife emma’s amusement.

“good how’s life treating you?”

“same old same old, I see you brought the kids” he said gesturing to his god children

“I did” he said nudging the teens to Dorian’s open arms

“good to see you again” josie said smiling into the hug

“good to see you too kiddo, you’ve grown since I last saw you in person what, two years ago?”

Josie giggled

“I didn’t peg you for a car girl lizzie” he said turning to the blonde 

“I’m not usually but josie insisted I come, there’s some racecar driver she likes that’s going to be here leading the parade synchronized car thingy out of here. There’s supposed to be a meet and greet too.

“hope Mikaelson?” Emma said

“yeah” josie said blushing

“she’s the youngest driver to win the cup right?” Ric said

“I thought that was Joey Logano?” Dorian said

“hope won the cup at 16 years old around 2 years ago, joey won when he was 19. Hope is currently the champion still.” Josie said not understanding how no one knew who she was. I mean seriously. HOPE MIKAELSON.

“hmm, why does no one know who she is?” Emma asked practically reading josies thoughts

“because everyone remembers Klaus Mikaelson’s accident and death in the championship races three years ago more than hopes win 2 years ago.” Lizzie said

“I thought you didn’t know Klaus Mikaelson?” josie said

“google” she replied simply.

The conversation was interrupted by a black and white Honda Civic with crazy mods and under glow speeding through the compound into the last available slot. Hope Mikaelson- HOPE MIKAELSON and her boyfriend stepped out of the vehicle.

“landon oh my god I slowed down to 80 this time stop being so dramatic” she said pulling him out of the car the rest of the way.

“speak for yourself, we almost died. 3 times.” He said.

How fucking lucky is it that josie got to witness hopes dope ass driving and that she decided to park right next to where josie was standing. Holy fuck, its hope mikaelson in full racing attire. And her boyfriend guy but HOPE MIKAELSON.

“josie” ric snapped his fingers in front of her face

“huh” she asked eyes never leaving hope who was bickering with the curly haired guy standing next to her.

“josie” he tried again.

She felt woozy “that’s, its”

“Hope Mikaelson” Emma filled in for the starstruck girl.

“you look a little pale are you ok?” holy shit, Hope Mikaelson is talking to josie! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!

 

And she passed out. Great.

“JOSIE”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically, hope meets josie, josie comes out, and gay jokes. lots, of gay jokes.

“ok she’s going down” hope said running over and catching the fallen girl in her arms, bridal style of course.

“is she ok???” lizzie asked with fear lacing her voice.

“I guess we will find out” she said before walking away as landon gestured for the four guests to follow them.

Hope brought the girl into the Salvatore mansion earning strange looks from the brothers inside.

“uuuhhhh………..” Stefan asked an unstated question gesturing wildly with his hands to the situation in front o f him.

“long story short, she fainted. Is there anywhere I can ya know, put her down. Preferably in a place that no one will see her seeing as how people can literally walk through here at anytime in….” she checked the clock. “7 minutes and 32 seconds?”

“precise”

Hope didn’t respond.

Damon lead them to a nearby couch hidden in a secluded room. Hope gently layed her down. She had to be careful as one, she didn’t want to hurt her and two, she had a tendency to do so. She tended to hit things into couches when she was nervous and nothing made someone nervous like a chick fainting in front of you.

 

“joossiiiieeeeee, josie” hope said gently shaking the girl.

“how do you know her name?” a woman with an accent asked.

“you did yell it when she ya know….” Hope gestured wildly with her hands

“fainted?” 

“yeah” she said simply turning back to the girl on the couch- josie she reminded herself.  
Josie……. Josie……. Jo—sie….. josie josie josie josiejosiejosiejosie………

There were only a few more minutes of akward silence before a groan was heard from josie.

“five more minutes” she groaned earning a chuckle from- wait, who’s voice is that?

Josie opened her eyes to see….. hope, hope mikaelson standing in front of her holding out a glass of water expectantly.

“how are you feeling?” her dad asked stepping out from behind hope.

Josie wanted to respond. She really did! Its just that, where is she, why is she there, why is hope mikaelson there with a glass of water and how…. How does anyone expect her to be able to speak when hope FUCKING mikaelson is standing there staring at her with concern in her eyes?????

“you passed out” lizzie said filling in the blanks as she gingerly took the water presented to her.  
“sorry, I don’t know what happened haahha” she said. Surprisingly evenly considering how starstruck she was in that moment.

“why are you sorry? There’s nothing you could do. These things happen” hope cut in before anyone could say anything.

“but still…. I’m sorry” 

Hope looked like she wanted to argue but Emma decided to cut in.

“we are all just glad you’re ok” she said to the teen.

“yeah you really scared us for a second” lizzie said 

“she did almost run you guys over with her dramatic ass car so I’m just saying, if that’s why you went all timber…. I get it” he said trying to prove that hope was a fucking TERRIBLE driver”

“are you serious???? That was badass!!!! Its not everyday that you get to witness these levels of awesome from anyone let alone Hope Mikaelson! I got to witness one of Hope Mikaelsons signature moves! I might pass out again that’s ho- and I’m rambling” she said looking down and blushing after noticing hopes smirk. And her families slack-jawed expressions but more importantly hopes beautiful smirk.

“eh, its all good. Its kinda cute actually” hope said making a face that suggested that she was flirting. And Landon was uncomfortable now.

“oh crap, hope-“ he said checking his watch pointedly “ the car parade starts soon. We have to go pick up your racer” he said urgently

“alright then,” she turned to josie “you sure you’re good?” she asked

“yeah I’m good” she replied dreamily.

“ok, well you guys have fun at the show, I hope to see you at the meet and greet thingy but I will let Damon here walk you out” she said elbowing Damon in the ribs.

“ow” he said dramatically.

“what is it 15-20 cars?” she asked

“18” Stefan filled in

“so 4th formation yeah?” she asked

“yeah. I will never know how you manage to remember all of the formations but you go girl” Stefan said to the redhead.

 

“I’m magic, alright Landon lets go. I can see you trying to drill through the floor.”

“finally” he sighed dramatically.

“guess what?” she asked on the way out the door.

“you don’t have to drive with me!!!” she said

“yay!!!” he replied

“you get to drive with yourself!!!!” she tossed the keys to Landon

“yay…..”

 

Josie stared after the redhead in a daze. She didn’t know if she should be embarrassed or not. On one hand, josie just met her cru-idol, josie met her idol. On another hand, josie just passed out. In front of her idol. Since we only have two hands, on one foot, said idol didn’t make a huge deal about it. She actually looked…. Happy? Not that she fainted but, josie couldn’t even tell what. On the other foot, said idol could have just been being nice.

“-sie, JOSIE” lizzie waved a hand in front of her face.

Josie jumped “hmm?” she asked

“you good…….”

“yeah lets do this thing!” she said enthusiastically.

“no way, you just passed out! How insane do you think I am? I am not taking you back out there” Alaric said worriedly

“but dad?!? It was Hope Mikaelson!!! What would you do if you met…..” she searched her brain. “Scarlett Johanson?” she asked

“um, make an ass out of myself cause she’s hot” he said dumbly.

Josie gave him a few pointed stares but he just didn’t seem to get it. Luckily the two girls in there seemed to understand.

“lesbihonest, I would die to meet Channing Tatum” Emma threw in knowingly.

Josie shot her a look that either meant “thank you” or “I cant even”

“josie lets be crystal queer. You better not faInt again” lizzie said snickering.

The 2 men in the room still didn’t appear to get it.

Stefan cocked his head to the side looking at a painting

“well that’s not straight…. No offence kid” he said tilting the art to a level position.

“Jesus, I feel like a secret gaygent with these two numbskulls” josie said pointing to Dorian and Alaric

“corporate lesbionage” lizzie said gaining a laugh out of josie

Dorian made a face.

“oooohhhh, I get it!!” he said excitedly

“really? That’s what made you get it?” Damon said.

Alaric looked confused

“what? What do you get???? What am I missing here?”

Damon looked at josie

“I was gonna order food in case you passed out from like low blood sugar or something but clearly you would prefer to eat out hope, I mean with, eat out with hope. Ill set that up.”

Josie blushed “I gotta gay. Go. I gotta go.” She said heading out of the room which was ironically, hidden in a closet.

“I guess her favorite movie really is Narnina, all of those kids coming out of the closet” Emma joked.

Alaric followed josie out of the room with lizzie behind him.

“this is gonna be gay’t” Dorian joke  
“oh my god we are terrible” Emma said laughing

Damon picked up a walkie out of his pocket  
“formation in 15” he said  
“you’re supposed to say over, over” hope said from the other line

“over” he grumbled

“over what, over” hope said

“god dammit hope!”

“over, over” she said

“I hate you”

“I know, over”

 

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“you ready for this, pretty boy?” hope said to a practically quivering Landon. “you’ll do fine, just follow my lead” she said opening her car door.

“maybe a good luck kiss would work?” he said hopefully.

“in your fucking dreams” she said

“c’mon, we’ve been dating for 4 years and you’ve only kissed me for pictures. I really don’t think it’s healthy for our relationship” he said.

“I ALREADY TOLD YOU LAN-“ she noticed a few stares from the other drivers.

“I already told you that the only reason we are doing this-“ she gestured between them “ is because Jed Is paying you. I don’t love you, I cant. You CANT love me because it would be bad for everyone. I pay Jed, he pays you, we act lovey dovey at publicity events, and that’s it. I don’t know what you think is happening here.”

“we can make it work!!! It doesn’t only have to be publicity!” he said.

“no Landon! We don’t! I’m gay! I couldn’t love you like that even if I wanted to! If you cant deal with this then walk, because I FUCKING cant. It would be better if we were both being honest anyway because the only person I would ever want to kiss? Happens to be a woman.

“shit! You’re gay? Jed just told me he would pay for the pr stunts and that he would make it so I had a shot with you…” he said sadly

“oh crap, I’m kinda mad you thought that that would work on anyone, but I’m more mad at Jed for being a douche. Again. I’m sorry that I blew up. I didn’t know you were in the dark about it”

“its fine. I’m good. I’ve had my eye on this blonde chick that likes to hit on my brother, who happens to like to hit on another guy at my school so……. I guess ill just….. try to uh…… yeah”

“you sure?”

“yeah”

“alright. We will talk to Jed later just, follow behind me and it’ll be all good”

“alright. Autoboots”

“roll out”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know.... i havent posted in forever. longest 2 weeks of my life tbh lol. anyway, i wanted to try something a little different. i''ve wanted to try doing an autistic hope trope and decided i would try it in this chapter a little bit. not to much because i dont know if it would fit well but let me know what you guys think. if its something you want to see or if i should save it for another fic or scrap it all together. im autistic myself and thought it would be cool to see a character like hope have something like autism. i thought it would make for some interesting story lines but again, if you guys dont think itll work or if you dont like it at all, let me know so i can save it for another time and make this fic as good as possible


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> basically, hope and josie are oblivious gays towards eachother the whole chapter but we really start to kick things into gear in the end. as promised i have more gay jokes (not as funny but im working on it lol) anyway hope you guys like this chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, seeing as how there were no negative responses to the idea of hope having autism in this, i decided to continue on. there arent alot of scenes that made it dramatic as in this fic, her pr team isnt too keen on her having so many unique things about her as they dont think its good for her or whatever, so shes actively trying to hide things that are associated with autism in any way. autism isnt something bad obviously (im autistic too) i just figured it would be an interesting plot line and make it way more enjoyable when hope takes the pr team down and gets a new situation for that. if theres anything you guys want to see happen just let me know in the comments and i will see what i can do :) anyway, now taht i have rambled for 758439578593745 years i think its time i show you the goods. not what i meant. you get it.

Hope pulled out of the lot, closely followed by an overly nervous landon, and 16 other drivers. A series of hollars and woots came from the crowd as they watched their favorite drivers parade around them. Hope was under strict instructions not to mess around as to avoid lawsuits which was a little difficult. (she really liked showing off) however, she did manage to avoid any unwanted hospital visits fairly well. Sure the parade only just began but still, this is a new record.

 

As the drivers made their way through their designated route, she caught josies eye from within the front circle of the crowd. Hope smiled and waved enthusiastically causing the taller girl to blush. If hope wasn’t focused on her driving, she surely would have crashed the car when the strong urge to flap her hands excitedly took over. She settled for a high pitched squeal of excitement instead.

 

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Josie was standing outside with ,dorian, emma, lizzie, and alaric. In the front row as she requested. It was about as brutal as black Friday shopping but they made it just before the “parade starts in 5 minutes” announcement. She loved hope mikaelson but the fact that she   
1\. Almost got hit by her legendary car  
2\. Met hope mikelson  
And 3. was about to witness a parade that she was leading

Made josie giddy. She might have a secret crush but who wouldn’t, its HOPE MIKAELSON of all people..

 

“careful jo, wouldn’t want you to faint again” lizzie teased

 

“haha” she said nudging her sister as she saw the first car pull out. None other than hopes racer. After admiring the car she looked up to see hope waving at her through the windshield. She felt her cheeks heat up when she realized the wave was actually to her and not the whole crowd.

 

 

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The cars pulled through the last checkpoint rather quickly and began filing into their designated parking spots rather quickly. Hope was the first driver to hop out of her car followed closely bylandon. Against his will as hope had dragged him out of the car rather forcefully in her excitement. Both teens made it over to the meet and greet area where there were a series of silver gates lined up for the drivers to sit behind. While hope was a person of interest to many people (cough josie cough) she wasn’t the only driver that competed in high staked races. Hope definatley kicked all of their asses at least once each but they still had quite large fanbases.

 

Hope got behind the gate and walked to her designated section of the meet and greet area (pulling landon along as he didn’t have a section.)

 

“that was awesome!!!” she said, bouncing on her toes.

 

“hell yeah!!!” landon shot back just as enthusiastically as he raised his hand for a high five. He hadn’t seen her this happy since she won the championship cup 2 years ago.

 

“I saw josie again” she said bashfully

 

“the girl who fainted?”

 

“yeah” she replied with a dopey grin

 

“oooooohhh, someone has a cruuusshhh” he teased

“I have no such thing” hope said unconvincingly

“uh huh” he said

 

“mhm. I know the blonde chick you were talking about is actually josies sister lizzie.” Hope said

 

“how do you figure”

 

“because, I may be bad at knowing what weird faces and stuff mean, but you my good sir, were making the hugest heart eyes ive ever seen in my 18 years of life” she laughd

 

“for the record, I think she likes you back” hope said more seriously

 

“for the record, so does josie”

 

“what, like you?”

 

“no, she likes you dopey”

 

“pfffft…… whaaaat….. noooo. I just met her” hope said pretending she wasn’t internally freaking out at the possibility that the brunette could secretly harbor feelings for her as well.

 

“ill tell you what, you help me get lizzie and i-“ he poked her shoulder causing her to back up slightly

 

“will help you get josie” he finished. 

 

“yeah, whatever. will do” she said

 

“wave 1 comes in 5” damon said

 

“sweet” hope replied grimacing at the camera flashes she was sure to endure.

“youll be good mikaelson. I put the gate out this time so no one will come and “squish your soul” without warning.”

 

“I know” she said uneasily

 

“ill tell you what, you do good and ill help mophead here get you your girl” he said earning a shocked look from hope.

 

“what, why?” she said curiously

 

“because klausette, being gay is fine, being bi is fine, being a lesbian is fine, being pan is fine, being trans is fine, and being yourself is completely fine. The only thing that isn’t fine, is wearing crocs.”

 

“since when is it fine? What happened to “they’ll eat you alive if they found out you had yet another thing to make you different”

 

“I never said that…… I would never tell you to change or hide yourself. Especially when what im pretty sure you just implied, has no impact on you at all. I might not say in enough…. Err at all rather, but your perfect the way you are” he said 

 

“jed said that you didn’t want the fact that im an orphan of a racecar driver, a young driver, autistic, and a lesbian to ‘sully’ my name.” hope said with furrowed brows.

 

“no. contradictory to popular belief im not a complete asshat. Plus I know you could take whatever they throw at you because ive been watching you do it for years. The public might not know everything about you but if you ever, want to share a piece of yourself with the world, who am I to stop you? Besides, it would be a little hypocritical to shove you into the closet given my past experiences with men.” He said nonchalantly like he didn’t both say the nicest things to hope that he has in his entire time knowing her, and reveal a buried secret of his.

 

“wow, clearly no one is straight anymore.” Landon said

 

“and clearly I have to rip jeds homophobic ass a new one. His fucking cousin used to date a girl so im not sure what the problem is” hope said angrily picking at her nails and rocking on her heels.

 

“itll be ok, we can fire him” damon said attempting to calm down hope. He would definatley reprimand the guy but he especially didn’t want to see hope get upset over someone so meaningless in her life. He knew of her autism as soon as her father died and he was given a letter. Klaus may have been frenemies with him and his brother but he always knew that if something happened he could trust damon to watch out for her. Not become a new parent or whatever but to make sure she had someone who would be there for her should she need it. Her and damon got closer after that and to honor his late frenemy he began the tradition of hosting annual car shows at the Salvatore mansion. He even had a lot installed close by. Klaus would have loved it and damon knew that hope did as well. He would gladly look out for hope in any way she need it and if it meant firing some homophobic bigot from her pr team, then he would do it willingly without question.

 

“how, Penelope will kill me if jed ends up unemployed. She was pissed enough when I took him off the pit crew and moved him for messing up the car and almost killing me.” Hope said 

 

“I wont let that happen. Now, lets get this show on the road” Stefan said after overhearing the conversation.

 

“yay” she said solemly before plastering on her well practiced smile and greeting the first person who came up to her.

 

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

“ok, so, we’re gonna go up there” lizzie said making a mental checklist.

 

“yeah” josie said edging her twin along

 

“and we’re gonna wait in line”

“yeah”

“and we’re gonna go talk to hope”

“yeah” josie said giggling

“and apparently we’re gonna give her your number because im not sure whats happening here but you guys are like….” Lizzie gestured wildly with her hands

“what?!? No, we are not like….” Josie copied lizzies previous gesture.  
“1st off, shes a famous racecar driver, and im a nobody, second off, shes straight so…..”

 

“1- not that famous-“

 

“THE YOUNGE- the youngest cup winner in history!” she whisper yelled

 

“whatever, and you aren’t a nobody. If anything, you’re an everybody” lizzie said

Josie made a confused face

“what?”

“you’re the nicest, most bestest person in the world”

 

“are you drunk?”

 

“no, im just saying that….. your happiness is contagious and you’re a good person, your so talented…… especially with cars but most importantly, youre josie fucking Saltzman and hope would be lucky to have you” lizzie said

 

“wow…… that’s nice but means nothing. Shes famous. Im just josie Saltzman. No fucking involved.”

 

“ill say, you need to get laid”

 

“jesus lizzie that isn’t what I meant” josie said, face turning red.

 

“what I mean is, hope I well known and accomplished. Im just me, its not like im one of the main characters in a supernatural teen drama on the cw or something.”

“oddly specific but whatever. And famous people are people too. They get sick, they get happy, they get sad, they love, they break hearts and get their hearts broken. They aren’t immune to humanity just because a few news articles slapped their celebrity seal of approval on them. Now, go get your head out of your ass and talk to her.” Lizzie demanded

 

“but-“

 

“no buts”

 

“shes straight”

 

Lizzie started manically laughing.

 

After a solid 5 minutes josie made it to the line.

 

“you done yet?” she asked annoyed

 

Lizzie wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

 

“haha, oh, oh man, im sorry haha its just….. shes so damn gay” lizzie said loudly gaining a few disapproving stares. Lizzie flipped them off

 

“like she once was talking to some chick who thought channing tatum was hot in an interview and she quite literally said ‘ ah yes, I too feel attraction towards the abdominal muscles of straight men”. Like shes so gay, she makes circles look straight. Legend has it, it takes her on average, 9 hours to shop for bras because she gets distracted by the boobs. Im just getting started.” Lizzie said

 

“what are you talking about” josie said crossing her arms protectively over her chest.

 

“im saying, hope mikaelson is the most flaming of homosexual.”

 

“I call bullshit”

 

“seriously, you don’t just go around catching people bridal style. Didn’t supergirl catch lena Luthor bridal style in season 2ish? Look at them now.”

 

“what, not dating and not gay?”

 

“friend dating and oblivious to their feelings.” Lizzie deadpanned.

 

“as much as I appreciate that we share ships I still don’t buy it,”

 

“ok, have you seen Katie Mcgrath? She turns everyone gay.” Lizzie said dreamily.

 

“I meant about hope but oookkkkk” josie said weirded out.

 

“look at her squirming, I bet shes exited to see you again.”

 

Josie looked to hope who was wiggling for some unknown reason. Maybe lizzie was right. She still needed proo- oh wait, she just told a fan she shops at home depot. Definitely gay.

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

“hi” hope said sticking her hand out for the man in front of her to shake. 

 

“h-hi uh, im drew and this is m-m-my wife” he said pointing to the woman next to him.

 

“hi drew, and who is this” hope cooed bending down to pet the service dog

 

“th-is is s-stella”

 

“hi stella” she said still petting the dog.

 

Drew handed her a few small plastic car toys with the Salvatore logo printed on the bottom. “c-can you sign these? M-my little cousin and a few of my family members l-love c-cars and you hap-happen to be my cousins f-favorite driver”

 

“sure thing!” she said standing up and uncapping a sharpie.

 

“who do I make it out to?” she asked

 

“Drew lynch, S-Sarah lynch, and Ryan lynch”

 

“hey, I’m pretty sure I watch you on YouTube! You’re a comedian right?”

 

“y-yeah that’s m-me!”

 

“cool, I love your channel! The little commentaries you edit in for Stella are hilarious! I knew your names sounded familiar!”

 

“wow, that’s so cool! I’m glad you like them”

 

“oh yeah, anyway here’s your cars back”

 

“oh thanks” he said taking them

 

“have a good day!” she shouted at his retreating form

 

“you too!” drew replied

 

“h- oh hey josie what’s up?” hope said flapping her hand briefly at her side and wiggling slightly.

“I came by to say thanks for…..” she trailed off

 

“no problem! I wasn’t just gonna let you like fall or something. Besides. You’re pretty cool and I’m glad you fainted” hope said not realizing what that sounded like

 

“NOT LIKE THAT I meant I’m glad I almost hit you with my car, wait no… uh-“

 

Josie laughed

 

“its ok I get what you mean” she said giggling 

 

“whew, thank god “ she said dramatically sighing and wiping off her forehead

 

“well, I brought this here poster” she said rolling out a picture of a racecar.

 

“wow! That’s so cool! Is that my racecar?” hope asked taking a closer look at the image.

“yup” josie replied popping the p

 

“jo, lets move this along. People are getting antsy” lizzie said warily eyeing the crowd behind them

 

“I better let you go then” hope said sadly while handing her her poster back

 

“yeah. I guess I should” josie said

 

“bye, see you later?” hope asked

 

“s-sure” josie said as lizzie dragged her away

 

Landon made a whip noise

 

“we aren’t together Landon”

 

“yet”

 

“yet?” hope asked

 

“yet.”

 

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

“I see you flirty pants” lizzie said

 

“look who’s talking miss got his number while josie was dying of embarrassment at her stuttering mess of a sentence”

 

“pfft. I’m not gonna call him” lizzie said scoffing

 

“why?”

 

“cause…. I’m playing hard to get

 

“ok then” josie said. Clearly they both liked each other. Lizzie did have a flair for the dramatic

 

 

 

“for the record, I’m fairly certain she gave you her number too” lizzie said smirking 

 

“WHAT?!?” josie said stopping in her tracks

 

“SHOTGUN!!!!!” lizzie yelled, vaulting into the passenger’s seat. 

 

“dammit” josie said hopping in the back as her father started the engine

 

Josie buckled her seatbelt and unrolled her poster spotting a phone number scribbled on the back with a note that read “call me 😊”

 

Josie smiled as the blood rushed to her face

 

Josie tapped lizzie’s shoulder and showed her the note

 

“told ya so”

 

 

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> we get a little up close and personal in this chapter. idk if this requires a disclaimer, but there is a flashback of an autistic meltdown in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohmygod i havent posted a new chapter for this in forever lol, for those of you who have been following this, thanks for not giving up on it yet. sorry i havent posted this in a while, i have been focusing on fixing problems with a few of my other fics and planned to have this up last night but my wifi was like, not letting that happen. anyway just another disclaimer, there is an autistic meltdown in this chapter related to stress and sensory overload. when i said i wanted to try a trope where hope was autistic, i meant the good, the bad, and everything else that comes with autism. if you dont feel like you would be ok with this i suggest that you read a different fic. anyway, disclaimers and excuses out of the way, i hope you guys like this chapter. if there is something tht you want to see happen, just let me know in the comments

“landon, where are you taking me?”

 

“I don’t know, where AM I taking you?”

 

“I have no idea, that’s why I asked”

 

“it starts with an L, well for you it starts with a J and ends in an E. both are 2 words long….” He hinted

 

“uh….uhm…. JAMBA JUICE?!?!?” hope said after some pondering

 

“what? No!”

 

“c’mon! can I please take off the blind fold? I don’t know if its your driving or what but its making me car sick..” hope complained

 

“hey! My driving is fantastic! He said in obvious mock offense

 

“suuuurrre” hope replied

 

“ugh, fine you can take it off. We’re here anyway-”

Landon was cut off by hope furiously ripping off her blindfold, well, the make shift one that landon made out of a t shirt he left in his car, and immediately giggling at her phone.

Just as he was about to say something, she giggled again. Raising her leg to perch a foot on the seat as she backed into the car door and brought a knuckle up to her mouth to bite.

 

Just as she was mid-giggle for a third time, lndon spoke up.

 

“OH MY GOD HOPE, WHATS SO FUNNY?!?!?!” he asked, exasperatedly.

 

“what?” she asked. Clearly not paying attention to the teen in the seat next to her

 

“who are you texting?” he asked curiously, noticing the blush rising on hopes cheeks.

 

“it starts with a j, ends with an e, and is ONE word” hope hinted giddily 

 

Landon gasped  
“no way!!! Josie?!!” he asked, definitely fangirling over the potential couple

 

“we’ve been sending memes and stuff back and forth. I feel like this is the start of an amazing friendship. Wait no, I just freindzoned myself, maybe it could be more than that someday” she said finally

 

“I hope so, you’ve never really been on a real date. Ya know…. With a woman…… cause ur gay… wait. Didn’t you and raf used to date?” he asked

 

“yep, now we are both the most flaming of homosexuals. Funny how that works” hope said

 

“yeah you kinda are aren’t you, you guys are like a couple of drag queens ribbon dancing with pride flags, across a rainbow, into a gay bar while people from the pride parade below you throw glitter” landon joked

 

“that was very specific but I like it. Im stealing that” hope noted

 

“youre like 2 gays in a pod” he joked again

 

“yeah, we really are tho” hope said fondly, remembering their relationship beforehand. They were basically eachothers beards but had legit no clue that the other was also gay. They were the only two who had a mutual unspoken understanding of eachother. Until raf came out last year and started dating some guy named jack, they were practically a power couple. Raf and landons foster parents had kicked him out because of it, but the brothers had made due, living in an apartment together. It was a little akward on nights when jack would ahem… “stay over” but, raf was happy and so was landon.

 

Both teens were pulled out of their thoughts when landons phone dinged.

 

The mother of the love of my life: /??? You have been sitting in the driveway for 20 minutes. Are you ok???/

 

Me: uh yeah sorry lol, I was about to ask if my friend hope could come too?

The mother of the love of my life: /sure no problem, since im sure you don’t want a third wheel on your obvious dating life she can hang out with josie/

 

Me:….

The mother of the love of my life:/ what? You guys were making lovey eyes at eachother. Just one warning kid, if you hurt her, I will find you, and I will dramatically threaten you./

 

“soo we are at josie and lizzies hous-“

 

“SWEET”

 

“because lizzie is playing hard to get, but I have to show her that I would chase her to the ends of virginia. Not farther than that cause im too broke for the gas bill and don’t feel like walking so far.”

 

“romantic” hope joked

 

“yeah I know”

 

“does she even know that we are here?” hope asked

 

“not exactly but her mom does, I just asked if you could come too. She said you could hang with josie-“

 

“SHE SAID YOU COULD HANG WITH JOSIE? Ahem sorry that I can hang with jose?” she asked, sloowwwllyy

 

“yes hope, you can hang with josie”

 

“SWEET” she dug out her phone to let josie know that she would be hanging out with her today. She knew from experience that people didn’t like it when you barged into their house without warning and proceeded to wander around.

 

“you ready?” landon asked as he stepped out of the car. Hope still didn’t understand why he would ask questions that he doesn’t want answered.

 

“yeah, I still don’t know why I couldn’t drive” hope pouted.

“because. I want to live to the day where lizzie calls me babe” landon said wistfully

“youre being so dramatic. I wouldn’t kill you. Put you in the hospital? Maybe. A coma? Definitely. Kill you? Never. On purpose”

 

“aw, that makes me feel so much better” landon joked while ringing the doorbell. Landon smiled at his wiggling friend. She could not contain her excitement.

The reality of the fact that she was about to see josie again for the first time since the car show was eating away at hope. She was so exited that she had to move. She began flapping her hand excitedly at her side.

Landon smiled wider at the obvious excitement radiating from his friend. At first he didn’t understand why hope did the things she does. He recently learned the term “stimming” ironically when he found out about her autism. For some unknown reason jed neglected to inform him that hope isn’t comfortable with every situation out there. He did learn quickly however on their second “date”. They were told to mingle in the public eye, get to know one another, basically just get the media booming with conspiracies about hopes private life.

 

Landon made the mistake of taking her to a jam packed bowling alley/ cinema/ arcade/ restaurant situation in the middle of summer. Hope definitely appreciated the gesture of wanting to take her somewhere special, but after the day, no, the week, well…. More like the month she had, it was just the icing on the cake and a meltdown was a long time coming.

 

 

 

///////////////////FLASHBACK//////////////////////////////////FLASHBACK//////////////////////////////

 

“SURPRISE!!!” he shouted causing hope to grimace. It had been a long day of interviews, crazy heckler confrontations, and even crazier pr meetups. It had been this way for about a month as hopes name had recently been inflating in the media. Needless to say, hope was too tired, and honestly too stimulated to deal with anything else. She could barely string a coherent thought in her head let alone one through her mouth and was definitely looking forward to going home and taking a nap. Unfortunately she was instructed by her head of pr “cough jed cough” to go on a date with her new boyfriend. Specifically in a heavily trafficked area to attract the attention of the media. Landon must have gotten a similar request as he decided to drive to the busiest place he could possibly find.

 

When hope saw those dreaded red letters spelling out CINEBOWL on the front of a huge building she gulped harshly. This was one of 3 places on her no-go list. A list she specifically made so she didn’t have to deal with all the extraness of humanity. Sometimes she wondered why people couldn’t just be quiet. Couldn’t just be calm. Just for a little while. After all if people like jed want her to have “quiet hands” whatever that means, why couldn’t they have quiet mouths? 

She had never ben good with the blasts of sensory input that one would find in an establishment like this one. All the chatter, music, general noise, the lights, the strange textures…. All of it was just so much. Hope only prayed that she could handle it for a little while. Yeah….. just a little while. Then she coud go home to HER bed. Lay with HER blankets. Sleep soundly next to HER dog. Yeah, she can do this! Not for long as she was already half way to a frickin panic attack but she could do this!!!

 

“you ready?” landon asked as he shut of his car engine.

 

“As ill ever be” she mumbled tiredly in response

 

“sweet”

 

The duo made their way intothe bowling alley where hope was immediately assaulted with the harsh sounds that accompany establishments such as these. The sounds of bowling pins being smacked with concrete balls and thrown back into the walls of the lanes, the sounds of the summer camp kids screaming at the top of their lungs singing whatever one direction song was most likely on, the noisy ass arcade games with their buttons being mashed and sounds being blasted through their speakers, the crazy strobe lights and lazer lights and disco balls and plates clattering and- 

landon had been saying something to her the whole time. Which she was only aware of thanks to the sandpaper fabric of his cheap hoodie scraping against her skin as he shook her shoulder.

 

“hmm?” she asked as she desperately fought the urge to cover her ears. The headache brewing behind her eyes was no help at all

 

“I was asking how many games you wanted to play?” landon asked sheepishly as the tired looking bowling alley attended stood impatiently waiting for the response

 

“uhhmm…… whatever sounds good to me” she said immediately retreating back into her own little bubble, desperately trying to block everything out without causing a scene. Surely she was wearing a hole in her faded t shirt with all the rubbing she had been assaulting the hem with.

 

The teens made their way to their designated lane. She had no idea how they managed to pay or when a pair of nasty bowling shoes was thrust into her hands but hey, whatever.

 

As landon began changing his shoes hope reluctantly removed her old combat boots exposing her favorite Deadpool socks to the stale air of the building.

 

“im gonna go get some balls, do you prefer a weight?”

 

“huh? Oh uh….. no whatever they have is fine” hope said while staring at the toes she was wiggling.

 

“alright, ill be back” he said walking away

 

Hope grimaced as she shoved her foot into the stiff, soleless shoe. Why did they have to make these things so uncomfortable? Seriously?!? It was like walking with iron sneakers fused to your foot!

 

Hope was absolutely not going to be able to walk in these things and decided on just wearing her boots while she bowled. Its not like she was going to be walking down the lane trying to fetch a ball that she didn’t throw properly

 

Hope was knocked out her her inner ponderings by 3 bowling balls smashing into the return.

 

Hope jumped violently as black spots danced around the edge of her vision and the air seemingly was sucked out of her lungs. Landon didn’t seem to notice the distress his “girlfriend” was in.

 

“who do you want to go first?”

 

Hope continued to stare at her shoes attempting to force herself to slow her breathing.

 

“hope?”

 

“uh… you I guess” she said not looking forward to having to stand in the slightest

 

“ok” he said entering their names into the computer on the front of the table. Once the names were entered and the game was set up, landon stood grabbing a ball from the return and lining up his shot.

“watch and learn” he said shooting the ball down the lane and turning around with a wide grin to find, hope not there anymore

 

“what the fuck?”

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

“nononononononoono” she repeated almost silently to herself as she rushed to the bathroom. She was trying to avoid this and felt like she was just on the edge of no longer being able to control her actions. She couldn’t tell if it was a stress related meltdown of a sensory overload but one thing was for certain. She needed to get away from everyone. The last thing she needed was someone trying to help her but inevitable making it worse, or even more importantly, jed getting mad at her and Penelope raining all hell upon hope for not acting normal

 

She violently swung the restroom door open only to find that it was full of people. Hope began hyperventilating. The bathroom was her backup plan. What the hell was she supposed to do? There were people standing in her backup plan! There was no way she could hide away now! The bathroom was packed and landon still had the car keys! If she doesn’t have her backup plan, everything is going to blow up in her face!!! Jed would kill her if people recognized her, especially when she was like this! 

 

It seemed like everything was going wrong for hope recently. Her family had moved to their place in new orleans leaving her by herself in mystic falls, she fired jed from her pit crew because she almost DIED, Penelope was up her ass about well, everything in general. Everything was wrong. Her plan, her life, her clothes. Wrong. WROOONNNNNGG.

 

“miss are you ok?” some old lady asked as she grabbed hopes shoulder.

 

Hope jumped and let out a distressed yelp

 

“are you ok? No. are you ok? No. are you ok? No.” hope kept repeating as she rocked back on her heels and looked at the floor. Outside, she needed to get outside. She needed to get out of there immediately.

 

Just then, landon came barreling around the corner only to be blocked by a huge crown surrounding someone. A girl? Wait hope?!?

 

“hope?” he asked in concern pushing a few people out of his way.

 

“what the hell is going on here???” he asked loudly causing hope to finally give in to covering her ears as she pushed through the crowd running out the door.

 

Landons face twisted into a perplexed expression as he chased after her. He had no idea what was going on but he really wanted some answers. For himself and so that he could help hope with… whatever was happening.

 

He walked around to his car to find hope sitting on the ground by the passenger door with her knees up to her chest.

 

“what happened?? Are you ok? Did someone hurt you??” landon asked

 

“are you ok? No. did someone hurt you? No”

 

“what?”

 

Hope attempted speech. Tried desperately to find the words to tell him what was going on. Hope couldn’t voice even I she wanted to. Words finding eachother tangled in the muddled mushy mess that is hopes brain right now. She wanted to tell him to take her away. Bring her back. 

 

She pushed out the only thing she could think of in that moment

 

“home”

 

 

////////////////////////end flashback///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

after a few minutes, the door swung open and hope quickly ceased her flapping. 

 

If caroline saw hope stimming, she didn’t say anything.

 

“hey, lizzie is upstairs in her room, pass the kitchen, up the stairs, first room on the left, door open and no funny business” she teased at a suddenly blushing landon. She turned to hope with a silent hello and let the teens into the house.

 

“pleasure to meet you hope, josie has been fangirling over you for a solid 2 weeks…. I assume that is who you are here to see?”

 

Hope nodded as she forced her eyes to meet caroline’s. she had been told it was a sign of respect and interest in someone when you meet them.

Caroline began leading hope through the house. It was one of those places that looked way smaller on the outside than it actually was hope noticed. You could tell that the family inside was close based on the extensive shelves of family photos lined up on the walls. There were your basic “this is posed and planned” photos, wedding photos, photos of close friends and extended family, pictures of lizzie…. Like…. Everywhere. Hope could’ve sworn that lizzie had her own dedicated shelf. There were a few photos of josie, standing bright eyed and wide smiled next to various cars. New, old, and everything in between. Mainly rare/collecters. Clearly josie was also an enthusiast. Maybe even as much as hope.

 

The girls stopped abruptly in front of a door with various mechanic themed decorations plastered on the front. Hope almost walked into caroline as she was hyper-focused on her observations. It was always something she did when she visited a new place. 

 

“josie should be in here if the crazy metal music is anything to go by. She may not hear you at first if shes working on her car again. If theres anything you need just let me know” caroline said with a smile

 

Hope carefully twisted the doorknob, trying her best to avoid that dreaded creaking sound that was practically inevitable with doorknobs. After all, she didn’t want to startle josie. Sure there was music on but still, its like creaking floorboards at 3 am.

 

Hope finally opened the door and stepped into the garage. Hope carefully made her way to josie as the sounds of what she thinks might be five finger death punch, filled her ears. She didn’t want to knock over any of josies tools even though they appeared to be laid haphazardly across the table. Maybe josie had a system. A flawed system obviously but a system none the less.

 

“josie?” hope said

 

Josie shot up from her place under the hood hitting her head on the car and knocking over some tools in the process.

 

“crap, are you ok???” hope asked worriedly

 

“yeah, im good. You just startled me a bit. What brings you to my humble abode?” josie joked nervously as she placed a hand on the hood of her car trying to get into the coolest stance she could think of.

 

“just to hang out, I texted you.”

 

Josie wiped her hands on a rag dangling from her pocket and proceeded to check said phone.

 

“oh! It appears you did.ci didn’t see it, yeah. I got time. What do you want to do?”

 

“not sure, I didn’t really get that far, what are you doing here?” hope asked gesturing to the 1976 camaro z-28 in front of her.

 

“just fixing up this old camaro a bit, my dads friend found it at a junkyard and gave it to me. Im happy tho cause it’s a z-28” josie said. Hope made a victorious fist pump at her accurate assumption of the cars model.

 

“wow, cool friend!” hope said amazed

 

“you wanna help?” josie asked after a bit of not at all akward staring

 

Josie handed a wrench to hope and proceeded to bend back over the engine.

 

“so ive been trying to fix the engine, everything else is running. Its just a matter of w-“ josie was cut off by the engine roaring to life

“what did you do! Ive been trying to get it running for a month! You didn’t even use the wrench!!!”

 

“no idea to be honest. I just twisted the thing at the bottom” hope said nonchalantly

 

“don’t you know stuff about cars? I mean, you are a race car driver”

 

“mostly, I know what parts are specific to what cars and can describe them, what things go to what and what they are called, but I can not for the life of me explain how I did it.”

 

“well what did you twist?” josie asked getting a little closer. Usually she could tell right away what was wrong with a car, but this mustve been a silly mistake if hope managed to fix it in 0.0000000001 seconds.

 

“this” hope said pointing to some akward fuse looking boxy knob hybrid thing. That mustve been why she missed it. The problem wasn’t even on the engine and she would’ve never thought to twist something that looked like that.

 

Josie moved even closer to hope as she bent down to take a closer look at the piece.

 

“huh” josie said, astonished

 

Hope and josie stood up simultaneously. It wasn’t until then that the two girls realized how close their bodies were, hope didn’t seem bothered by the proximity and quite frankly neither did josie. They both appeared to really enjoy it actually. Josies eyed flicked to hopes lips. Wait…… did that mean that she wants to kiss hope? She read somewhere one time that that is what that means. Hope tried to show equal interest by reciprocating the gesture/gaze/whatever its called. Both girls leaned in, and josie put her arms around hopes neck playing with the hairs that didn’t fir into the ponytail she was sporting.

 

Just as their lips were about to meet, the garage door sung open rather forcefully.

 

“girls did you want to- oh….uh I was gonna ask if you wanted to come to the grill with us but uh…. Clearly ur busy so ima just…..” caroline said as she slowly backed out of the room. She definitely was going to chat with josie later about this. She had no idea that she liked girls, not that that was a bad thing at all but now that she thinks about it, she did fangirl pretty dramatically over hope. She would definitely be treating her just like lizzie and enforcing the open door policy a little more clearly.

 

Josie and hope locked eyes and started giggling.

 

The girls ended their fit of laughter and josie spoke again

 

“so, wanna go join my mom and im assuming my sister and your ex at the mystic grill?”


	5. i should name these right? oh well lol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ah, welcome to a chapter build on the foundation of sleep deprivation and crushed dreams! how are you all doing? ive been gone forever! upload schedule? never heard of her. thank you guys soo so much for your endless support on this fic. your comments and kudos really drive me to continue on and while im writing this mainly because whatever i want to, im so glad that other people besides me are actually dedicated to this. anyway, ima shut up now, enjoy this garbage chapter!

“so, what do you say. Lunch?”

 

“uh sure!” hope replied. This day was getting better and better!!! First she gets to hang out at josies house and now they are going to luch?!? Awesome!!!

 

“sweet. Im in assumption that my mom is driving lizzie and landon since lizzie doesn’t actually have a car. Should we ride with them too?”

 

“I mean, if you want to. Landon drove us both here in his car so I don’t have the keys.”

“alright then.”

 

“I mean, I probably could have driven us but he doent enjoy my particular driving style”

 

Josie looked confused.  
“why not? Did he miss the part when you won the championship cup at literally 16 and again at 17 and that youre competing again in like 3 months?”

 

“no”

 

“ok then why does he hate your driving skills?”

 

“I have no clue”

 

The girls stood in an akward silence until the sound of carolines car horn from the driveway summoned their attention.

 

“we should probably get going then” josie said

 

“that we should” hope said as her phone chimed with a new message.

 

Hope removed the phone from its rightful place in her jacket pocket only to see jeds name flash across the screen.

 

Hope visibly paled at the message

 

Jed: /its not a good idea to defy me and my cousin mikaelson. She has plans for you. For your greatness. Fix this now, or you’ll be answering to Penelope.

 

Hope completely forgot about jed when she came out to landon and broke up with him. She had no idea that the “break up” was public knowledge. Then again she didn’t exactly try to hide it from people.

Hope only prayed that Penelope would have mercy on her. After all, it wasn’t yet swimming around social media.

 

 

 

 

 

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Somewhere in between jed’s borderline threatening text and now, both girls somehow made their way to the driveway and were effectively piled into carolines minivan.

 

At first hope worried that there wouldn’t be enough room. After all 4 teenagers take up quite a bit of space. All of the sudden BAM smack dab front and center of her mini mind rant a second row of seats popped up. Landon and lizzie opted for those seats but its not like hope was complaining. The front row was more spacious anyway and she got to sit by josie. Plus it would be them that would have to climb over the seats to get out the door anyway.

 

“so hope, I interrogated landon. Are you ready for your shovel talk?” caroline asked

 

“uhm I thin-“ hope was cut off

 

“mom that’s really not necessary” josie said pinching the bridge of her nose. Leave it to her mom to go try and embarrass her and freak out hope before josie can even become official friends with hope.

 

Honestly it’s a classic mom move to trap anyone who she would potentially date in a moving car which they cant escape as she threatens their very existence am I right?

 

“no no, please. Do go on” landon said. His shovel talk was more of a ‘don’t hurt her, don’t get her pregnant, don’t be an asshole’. It honestly wasn’t as bad as anticipated based on the windup before hand and caroline actually ended up being pretty sweet and sentimental about it. Lizzie was basically a tomato the whole time but hey, at least lizzie didn’t deny them being a couple this time.

 

“so. There comes a time in every teenage qirls life when sh-“

Josie attempted to drown out her mother with a string of ‘lalalala’ but caroline was persistent. After all, you don’t become miss mystic falls in highschool by being a quitter.

 

“AND SHE WILL BEGIN SEEKING OUT ROMANCE. SHE WILL DECIDE WHO SHE WISHES TO DATE DOWN FROM PERSONALITY ALL THE WAY TO GENDER. NOW, IM NOT GONNA LIE, AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE LIZZIE WHO BROUGHT HOME A GIRL BUT, LOVE IS LOVE AND HONESTLY IM NOT SURPRISED.

 

Josie realized that her efforts were futile and stopped yelling

 

“as long as said romantic interest is not misplaced towards a piece of garbage and doesn’t hurt her and again, isn’t garbage im all cool. Doors open of course”

 

The car went silent. Save from the ac and quiet music.

 

“BOI you didn’t tell me you guys were dating!” lizzie shouted

 

Hope looked almost uncomfortable

 

“we aren’t uh….. not yet…….. not official” josie stammered in mild embarrassment.

 

“shovel talk still stands” caroline said as she pulled into a parking spot and shut of the engine.

 

After 3 minutes of landon trying to get out of the car (caroline may or may not have popped the trunk for him to get out) the 5 made their way into the resturaunt.

 

“sorry” josie muttered quietly

 

“for what?” hope was genuinely confused. She didn’t even know if the apology was meant for her

 

“my mom”

 

“what about her….” Hope trailed off in confusion

 

“m’sorry my mom whipped out the shovel talk. Im sure its akward for you. I mean, we aren’t even dating”

 

“coughyetcough”

 

“what?”

 

“what?”

 

“what did you say hope” josie asked, amusement evident in the question

 

“oh I said nothing. I think its awesome that your mom cares about you like that. My mom was the same way. She didn’t always show it but she cared.”

 

“was?” josie asked. She suddenly felt like she yeeted herself way over the line and immediately apologized

 

“not that you have to answer. It was pretty dickish of me to ask.”

 

“no its uh, its cool. She died peacefully. If you consider suicide by house fire peaceful.” Hope said solemnly 

 

“oh wow that’s intense. Uh, im so sorry” josie said sincerely. Albeit awkwardly.

 

“its alright. It was years ago”

 

Josie didn’t say anything else until they were seated.

 

 

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“and I was sitting there. Barbecue sauce on my titties-“ landon stopped abruptly 

 

“…”

“…”

“…”

 

“…”

 

“this is why vine is dead” hope said

 

“rip forever in our hearts” josie added

 

They were all conveniently seated in pairs.

Landon and lizzie on the corner of the booth. Hope and josie on the other, and caroline seated in one of 2 chairs by the table.

 

“vine. What?” caroline asked in true comedic oblivious parent fashion.

 

“mom, weren’t you literally in like highschool or college or some shit when vine was getting popular?” lizzie asked

 

“that was the cw timeline kid. Technically this should be the future.” Caroline replied stunning the 2 teens who didn’t grow up with carolines humor. Said teens were looking at caroline like she grew a second head.

 

“im just playing lol” caroline said after a beat.

 

“mom you aren’t supposed to say lol” josie said facepalming. Usually her mother was explaining things like this to her and her sister. Clearly she decided to introduce herself to her daughter’s significant others by becoming the biggest troll ever.

 

“idk tbh” caroline said

 

“oh my god mom” lizzie said. Landon snickered finally getting the joke. Hope looked like….. well, hope looked like hope.

 

“don’t you mean omg?” caroline asked

 

“hey guys sorry im late. There was a staff meeting right after classes today” alaric said with an akward wave as he approached the table.

He puled out the chair next to caroline and received a greeting from both of his daughters.

 

“hi dad”

“hey daddy”

The twins said almost in unison.

 

“hi girls, caroline, kid with curly hair, racecar driver that made my daughter faint.” He said waving to each person that he addressed.

 

“faint?” caroline asked. She was never informed of any fainting happening.

 

“yeah at the c-“ hope started only to be interrupted by josies hand slamming over her mouth causing her to jump. And rightfully so, its not every day you get slapped in the face mid sentence.

 

“I did no such thing.” Josie said directing a pointed look towards hope who missed it completely. She never was good with knowing when people wanted her to talk or not. She either doesn’t talk enough and freaks people out, or talks too much and annoys whoever shes talking to. Unfortunately this was about to be a case of the latter, although some would agree that it is pretty difficult to get on josies nerves.

 

As previously mentioned, hope didn’t exactly get the memo and proceeded to mumble under josies hand.

 

“bhu ylu fndd ad mha crr shw” hope started

 

Josie retracted her hand apologetically.

“what?” caroline asked

 

Josie nudged hope before she could even try and respond causing hope to ALMOST look her in the eye.

 

Hm, josie never noticed that before. Hopes clear diversion to eye contact. In fact the only time she recalls being able to look into hopes blue orbs was when they AlmoST KISSED?!?

Sure her eyes were really blue then but for some reason josie didn’t even register that she almost kissed hope mikaelson in her garage. What if hope didn’t want to? She doesn’t even know josie? Oh my god does she even like girls?!?

 

Hope noticed josies face twist into various facial expressions before finally settling to what could be considered a grimace. That is supposed to mean she is in pain.

 

“are you ok?” hope asked with concern in her voice.

 

“hm? Oh yeah, uhm… i-m a-all good.” Josie said. Face seemingly plastered into eternal agony. The emotional agony type of course, not that hope really knew the difference yet. She had minimal time to research these things as of late, her name becoming well known the past 2 years and all that.

“are you sure? Your making a weird face. The internet says that means pain. Are you in pain?” hope asked with sincerity and real worry in her voice that made josies heart melt. Usually celebrities like hope don’t actually care that much about their fans. Sure they care but not usually the amount of care that hope is radiating in that moment.

 

Lizzie mouthed a wtf to landon. Weather she was asking about hopes obvious infatuation with josie or why she spends her internet time surfing the web on facial expressions linked to pain, no one will ever know. Yet of course. No one will know yet.

 

Landon responded with a quick ‘ill explain later’ which he clearly said too loudly as alaric made his confusion known.

 

“explain what?” he asked

 

Landon grew the same face as josie. Wait no, not like tha- you get it.

 

“uhm uh…… POKEMON” he practically shouted in reply. He didn’t feel that it was his place to tell everyone something that hope clearly didn’t want told.

 

Caroline raised a brow but alaric seemed satiated with this information.

 

“pokemon?” lizzie asked silently. Landon shrugged.

 

Hope started wiggling before blurting the word bouncing around in her head.

“SQUIRTLE”

Hope blushed in mild embarrassment “uh sorry” she said sheepishly with a timid neck rub. 

 

Luckily the waitress finally decided to make herself known and save the table from the akward tension surrounding the entire affair of the day.

 

 

 

 

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Josie was chilling out in her room. Reflecting on the day, day dreaming about hope, freaking out internally about her almost kiss with hope, pondering her life choices, berating herself, ya know? The usual, when her mother casually waltzed into the room and sat next to her on her bed.

 

“so……” caroline started

 

“so……..” josie parroted

 

“now, im not gonna assume anything, ya know, like ive been doing all day but, based on the scene I walked in on in the garage, ima just say you and hope appear to be getting cozy…”

 

“its not like that mom”

 

“well it kind of looked like that but I could be misunderstanding. All im going to say, is that hope strikes me as the kind of person who doesn’t let people in easily.”

 

“I guess im one of the lucky ones huh?”

 

“that you are kid. Feel free to totally lie to my face on this one but, do you like her? Ya know…. Like like her?” caroline asked with the least amount of awkwardness she could.

 

“I mean… I think so? Its not exactly like I have real world crushes to compare this to. Its not everyday you meet a celebrity. Maybe its just admiration ya know? Maybe it’s a crush. All I know is that I want to get to know her better. Clearly she wants to be my friend and right now, that’s good enough for me. Im not ruling out that one day maybe we could be more, just like im not ruling out that maybe ill find another boy, girl, or whoever that I like.”

 

“you always were a people person. Just, if you guys decided that you want to b something more just, let me know so I can give her a proper shovel talk.”

 

Caroline got up and went to the door

 

“and so you can invite me to the wedding” she said quickly before practically slamming the door to avoid josies now airborne pillow.

 

“no problem mom” josie said quietly as she plopped back onto her bed, pillow in hand.

 

 

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“ugh fine, hope is just a little weird. Not that that’s a bad thing obviously…”

 

“ok I got that….”

 

 

“hope just doesn’t understand things and see things the way we do. She lives a little differently…….. she researches things like body language so we can perceive her as more “normal””

 

“ok”

 

“and sometimes she repeats things, or blurts things out randomly”

 

 

“ok”

 

 

“because shes autistic”

 

 

“ok I got it landon its all cool. You look like your going to explode”

 

 

“wait no questions?”

 

 

“no not really. I don’t know a lot about autism but then again, I don’t really care. Clearly hope is a sweet person. A little odd? Sure, but its none of my business. Just let me know if I do something wrong or say something wrong. I know hope of all people isn’t some snowflake that’s going to melt if I breathe on her but just let me know if I cross any lines. If I have questions ill come to you, and if a day comes where hope wants to tell me and josie, ill ask her. But for right now im good”

 

 

“wow, thanks lizzie. See you tomorrow?”

 

“sure” she replied.

 

Landon began his trek to the car.

 

 

 

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Hope took out her phone to text josie about her upcoming race

 

ME: hey! I totally forgot but I have a race tomorrow if you want to come there instead of the Salvatore mansion? I don’t exactly have a house by myself. Ive been staying with landon and raphael for about a month until I can figure something out. Not that you needed to know that-

 

“what the hell am I saying” hope muttered as she pressed backspace until her message disappeared.

 

ME: hey! I totally forgot about my race tomorrow! Do you want to come there for a little while instead? Its one of my last races before the championship and I can use a friendly face in the crowd

 

Josies reply was almost immediate

 

JJ:/ sure! Id love to! What time?

 

ME: around 11 is when I set up my car but 12 is when we all get ready to race.

 

 

JJ:/ alright cant wait <3

 

ME: see you then! 😊

 

 

Hopes phone chimed with a new message just as she was about to put it away

 

JED: you seem to be becoming a problem. No worries! I’ll take care of that. See you tomorrow!

 

 

What the fu-


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i'm back again bitches, here's some stuff 4 u to read. let me know what you guys think :)

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

 

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

 

“mph. Jesus Dog, don’t lick my face.” Hope mumbled sleepily as she rolled over to turn off her incessantly beeping alarm clock.

 

She rolled back over to pet her dog. Who she named, Dog.

 

“wassup dude? How you doing ma doge? You up to dog things?” she asked rhetorically.

 

Despite his lack of knowledge pertaining to human languages, Dog responded to hope by licking her face. Again.

 

“eeeeewww” she groaned, still petting Dog.

 

“I will let it slide since you’re so cute.” She said, scratching behind Dog’s ear one more time before finally getting out of her bed, letting the cold air slap her once released from her blanket burrito.

 

She checked her phone on her way to the bathroom, just like every other day, and like every other day she only had one notification.

 

Wait…. That’s strange. She has a text?

 

JJ:/ hey you! Can’t wait to see you before your big race <3

 

ME:/ 😊

 

Hope continued the rest of her early morning with a huge smile on her face, and yes, that meant she was walking around with her dog for an hour non stop smiling.

 

After giving Dog his food and water, hope made her way to the kitchen, for some human food for herself.

 

Just as she was pouring her cereal, a slightly toned blonde man walked sleepily into the kitchen in only his underwear.

“hey jack” hope said

 

“hey hope, I hear it’s a big day for you?” he asked, grabbing a different brand of cereal.

 

“yeah, just another race. No biggie”

 

He poured his own bowl, and a second. She assumed for raphael.

 

“ah, well, good luck. Not that you really need it. You always come in first.” He said, trudging back to raphaels room.

 

Hope took her bowl to the small table next to the kitchen and ate her ceral, petting dog who was of course, begging. Hoping she would drop the bowl.

 

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Josie took another bite of her toast.

 

She was so exited to see hope again, that she tried to leave the minute she got up, completely forgetting that she wasn’t supposed to meet her until 11 pm.

 

So, she’s spent the last two hours frantically rummaging through her closet to find the perfect outfit. She still wasn’t supposed to leave for another hour, and her mother insisted that in that time, she at least eat or something so that she could drive both her and lizzie there, since lizzie was supposed to meet up with landon.

Josie only agreed to the carpool idea, so she could save money on gas.

And she was less likely to scratch up her car if she didn’t take it somewhere when she could avoid it. That car is basically her child.

 

So, she is now munching toast inhumanly fast, impatiently waiting for her sister to come trudging down the stairs.

 

For some reason it always feels like lizzie takes extra long to get ready when it comes to josie seeing hope.

 

“honey, slow down. You wont be going anywhere iif I have to give you the heimlech.” Caroline scolded amusedly 

 

“but moooommm” josie whined, mouth full of toast

 

“but jossiiieee” her mother whined back.

 

“I want to make sure we all get there before the race starts. Hope wanted to hang out before she got on the track.” Josie said, glancing back to the stairs, willing her sister to move faster.

 

“I don’t know Jo, your sister is going to see her boyfriend and she isn’t shoving toast down her throat…..”

 

“BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T HAVE A DESIGNATED TIME FRAME!!!”

 

Caroline rose an eyebrow.

 

“is she busy afterwards? Maybe you guys can hang out then.”

Josie looked as though she never considered that idea before, the apiphany clear on her face.

 

“you’re a genius! Why didn’t I think of that? Also, lizzie better hurry up, cause I still want to see hope first.”

 

Caroline chuckled.

“you didn’t think, cause you’re exited.” Caroline clarified.

 

“tr-LIZZIE! COME ON! WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!!!” josie shouted at her sister who was, in pure lizzie Saltzman fashion, taking her sweet old time.

 

“I was getting dressed!” lizzie said as josie pulled her by the arm towards the door.

 

The girls’ banter slowly faded away as they walked out the door.

 

Caroline fondly shook her head and grabbed her car keys.

 

 

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Hope pulled up to the track, and got out of her car.

 

Slowly making her way towards her racer, intermittently texting josie where to find her as she grabbed her tune up kit from her passengers seat.

 

Hope popped the hood and could immediately tell something was off.

 

Her brake lines were loose.

That’s strange….

 

Hope grabbed her socket wrench set from her trunk, and reconnected the line.

 

She carefully checked every other aspect of her cars mechanics, but it still felt like something was off.

 

Eventually she shook her head and decided that the brake lines were the only issue.

 

Hope proceeded with the tune up. Eventually, she heard a familiar voice.

 

“sup hopey?” she heard josie say.

 

Hopes smile grew ten fold, and she turned around to see her favorite person in the world.

 

“hey stranger! Fancy seeing you here! I thought you weren’t gonna be here for another 30 minutes.” Hope said, pleasantly surprised.

 

“eh, you know what they say, early is on time, and on time is late. Something like that anyway.”

 

“hm. Well hi!” hope waved.

 

“hi.” Josie replied, smiling.

 

“so,” josie started.

 

“what do you say, when you win this race we go do something?”

 

“sure”

 

“yeah?”

 

“yep”

 

“ok, what do you want to do?” josie asked.

 

“hmmm. I’m not sure. There’s usually a thing that me and all of the mystic falls adjacent champions do every year after the final championship game. Its kind of like a congrats to whoever won, but we all did great and lets party kind of thing. I went to one with my dad a few years back, and it was super fun. I think we’re doing it at some pizza place with an arcade this year if you’re interested?”

 

“that sounds super cool. I love arcades! There’s actually this one arcade that had like a bowling alley and a movie theater built in. you ever been?”

 

Hope visibly cringed. Why did everyone even like that place?

 

“yeah… once or twice” hope replied vaguely.

 

“maybe we could go one day?” josie asked, with the most hopeful expression she had ever seen.

 

Hope could never say no to her.

 

“sure” hope said flatly.

She tried to change the subject so josie would forget the cinebowl even came up in conversation.

 

She was NOT dealing with that again.

 

“so, how have you been? We never really got a chance to catch up yesterday. I know we’ve been texting back and forth but it isn’t quite the same ya know?”

 

“I’ve been good. You know. Last day of school. Summer stuff. Lizzie. Haven’t really been up to a whole lot” josie replied.

 

“ah, same for me too. Just mainly dealing with race prep…. That gives me an idea! Maybe I could take you for a ride one day. Maybe even let you show me what you got. Of course, that is if you want to?” hope asked, tapping the hood of her racer

 

“uhm hell yeah! Ill show you mine if you show me yours?” josie asked.

 

It took a second for hope to catch on

 

“oh. Awesome! I do have to get this thing to the start line, but ill see you later?” hope asked checking her watch. She had 4 minutes and 35 seconds to get to the start line, which will give her plenty of time to smoothly end the conversation and get to the line.

 

“obviously” josie said.

 

Hope waved as she went to her car door and fished out the keys.

 

“oh wait! Before you go” josie said, pinning hope to the car door.

 

“I don’t want to forget to give you this.” Josie said, barely giving hope time to process, as she dove down for a kiss.

 

At first josie was worried she crossed a line when hope didn’t reciprocate at first. She was about to pull away until hope began kissing back with fever.

 

Josie slowly pulled away and opened her eyes, just in time to see hopes eyelids flutter open, revealing her cerulean blue orbs.

 

“good luck out there” josie said, reveling in the blush adorning hopes cheeks.

 

She did that.

 

She josie Saltzman, made hope blush.

 

“thanks bye see you later” hope said quickly causing josie to chuckle.

 

“see you” josie said, smiling brightly.

 

She turned around and walked away, sending one final wave behind her, presumably going to meet her mom, lizzie, and landon at their seats.

 

Hope got into her car and squealed, happily flapping her hands.

 

Josie just kissed her!!!

Best! Day! Ever!

 

 

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“worst. Day. Ever” jed said, dropping his binoculars.

 

“why did you bring those? We’re like 50 feet away????” Penelope said

 

“look. That’s not important. What matters, is that hope fixed her brake lines.”

 

“ok, so?”

 

“so…. Our plan failed….”

 

“cousin, calm down. When have I ever went in without a backup plan? The brake lines aren’t the only mech we disabled. She didn’t even check the interior”

 

“I don’t know why I ever doubted you, Penelope”

 

Penelope smirked, stealth passing a note to one of the passing drivers.

 

“you always make that mistake”

 

“I do, don’t it?”

 

“c’mon, lets go watch this masterpiece.”

 

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Hey there virginia, welcome to the annual drag racing championship, where we take one reputable driver from each county, and make them race to the top, to see who, is the best.

 

We’re kicking off this year with a few more drivers this year, havin a larger lineup of 37 racers!

 

Lets see who comes out on top.

 

Are you ready?

 

Get set?

 

3…….2……..1 AND WE HAVE LIFTOFF!!!!!

 

 

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Hope got into her position at startup, lined up next to 36 other drivers. These drivers, are the best of the best. People from all over come every year to compete in the championship.

 

Usually theres more small competitions to weed out the best drivers, but this year, 37 managed to slip through the cracks, and hope was so exited to finally have some real competition.

 

Hope heard the announcer start counting down in her earpiece.

 

3…….2…….1……

 

She floored it.

 

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And we are starting off with number 6 in the lead, brown is giving his all from the get go. The only question is, does he have the endurance to last that long?.

 

Number 6 is now tied with number 8. Theyre neck and neck.

 

The drivers have made their way past the first curve, it looks like number 13 is giving number 5 a bit of a problem over there in 6th and 7th place.

 

 

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Hope was the 6th car in the race, putting up a serious fight, with most of the racers close behind her.

 

She felt a tap on her bumper and turned on her CRS.

 

“buddy, ease off. This isn’t bumper cars.” She radioed through.

 

The racer moved to hopes side, and hope sped up.

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Number 8 has passed brown and is in the lead,

 

 

Mikaelson is climbing through and is close to the top

 

 

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Josie was standing, cheering hope on. 

She had never seen hop race in real time before, and boy was it worth it. Hope passed 3 cars in seconds and was totally obliterating her opponents.

 

Josie cheered louder as hope passed another car.

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Number 13 is back by number 5’s side. The two are neck and neck.

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Hope felt someone tap into the side of her car, pushing her out slightly, knocking her out of the curve.

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Oh no, number 5 has drifted nearly out of bounds.

 

Number 5 is back on track and has not stopped yet, mikaelson is giving them hell

 

Number 13 has been passed. Number 3 is climbing her way to the top.

 

 

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“watch it!” hope shouted as she drifted out of the curve.

 

She slowed slightly, continuing on the track, gaining speed again.

 

Hope saw the car gaining on her again, and she drifted to the side, narrowly missing the car that was going significantly faster than her, nearly plowing her off the track

 

“DUDE?!?”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Close call, number 13 has almost taken out number 5 but they are both moving smoothly again.

 

Number 8 has passed number 13

 

Number 18 has drifted

 

Number 5 has passed number 13 and is slowly climbing her way back into 2nd place

 

Number 13 has passed number 8

 

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Hope felt the car hit her again, almost sending her into a wall.

 

“buddy seriously, ease off. You’re going to get one of us killed.” Hope radioed

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Number 13 has almost caused a wreckage!

 

Number 5 has leveled back out! Mikaelson is putting up a serious fight

 

 

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“mom, that guy seems to be riding a little too close for comfort. Hes gaining on her again”

 

“that happens a lot in narrow tracks like these.. especially with that many cars. Sometimes the racers drift into each other, especially if their tires are too bald.” Landon explained over the cheering of the crowd

 

Josie looked reluctant to believe that the cause was related to bald tires, but didn’t say anything further.

 

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Number 13 is gaining on number 5 who is in the lead. They only have 1000 feet to go. Will 3 time champion hope mikaelson be defeated?

 

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Hope shifted back to 5th gear.

 

Number 13 was giving her a lot of problems.

 

She stopped by the pit crew, quickly replacing her tires in seconds, before climbing back to full speed 

 

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Number 5 is still in the lead! Only 100 feet to go!

 

Number 13 is gaining on mikaelson.

 

Number 13 has taken out mikaelson! Is that even allowed!?!?

 

Stand by paramedics have reached number 5’s car, right outside the finish.

 

Number 13 has come in second place.

 

The championship has been won by hope mikaelson, lets hope she gets to know that. 

 

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13 crashed into hope again one final time, this time being on the sharpest curve, right before the finish.

 

Hopes har flipped into the wall, rolling 10 times over before landing on its side, skidding a few feet and finally landing upside down.

 

Hope could barely tell what was going on.

 

All she knew was there was blood everywhere, and she hurt like a mother fucker.

 

Then it all went black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops. sorry not sorry. don't hate me pls


	7. im not dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> great news everyone, i didnt die! im just lazy af.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry i made you all wait this long, ive had some shit going down at home lately, but to make up for it i made this one about twice as long as i usually do. sorry for leaving you all on a cliffhanger haha, anyway thanks for sticking with me, peace out

Have you ever felt something that just hurt so damn badly you could’ve sworn you were being skinned alive or something? Where your whole body is on fire and you feel like you’re on one of those werewolf shows on tv and your skeleton is reshaping itself?

That’s how hope feels right now.

Well, technically she’s not actually awake right now? Its been kind of a blur. The only thing she remembers is some racer giving her trouble, her car flipping over all dramatically, and now she’s just kind of floating in the void.

She hurts everywhere but is also numb somehow. Almost like that time when she was little and she scraped her knee on the pavement but her mom put antibiotic cream on the wound and said a “magic spell” so it wouldn’t hurt anymore.

She can kind of hear voices but she cant tell if that’s her own inner voice or if people are actually talking to her. She thinks she might have heard someone ask if she can hear them….. if that’s the case she’s definitely not doing great on that front.

She wonders if she’s sleeping. Though usually she dreams. Maybe she’s dreaming.

All she knows is, if she’s sleeping she’s managed to hit peak sleep deprivation and feels tired even as she recharges.

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Somehow shes pretty sure she fell asleep while sleeping because she doesn’t feel like shes practicing contortionism while scraping her bones against an industrial sander anymore. She still feels like she was hit by a bus but that’s at the back of her mind right now. Currently the most present feeling is something cool against her back. Maybe metal?

She can tell there’s some kind of light shining above her because the blackness consuming her is a bit brighter.

 

“little wolf, what have you done this time?”

Who’s there? Was someone talking to her? Everything’s a bit muddled…

 

She turned around though she wasn’t sure she was even standing to do so.

“daddy, I promise it was like that when I got here”

Hope saw a little girl with auburn hair similar to hers standing next to a broken lamp on the floor. There was a man kneeling down in front of her, matching her height.

“I promise I wont be mad if you tell the truth, things happen.” The man said, his voice was incredibly familiar, she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. The faces of both the child and the man were blurry to hope.

“ok… it was me. Im sorry daddy, mommy told me not to play with my ball in the house but I did it anyway. I didn’t want to get in trouble.”

Hope grew a small smile at the pout she could see vaguely on the little girls face. She felt like she was intruding on a moment between the child and her father, but something about the scene in front of her felt familiar.

“its ok hope, thank you for telling me the truth, remember, liars don’t get to go get icecream with their mommies and daddies!”

Hmm, Hope…. Hey! Is this a memory? Hope can remember when she was 5 and this same thing happened. Either shes dreaming or has some massive déjà vu going on.  
The child blurred further while exclaiming her happiness about their icecream trip before slowly silencing and disappearing altogether. The man stood up to face hope.

“Dad?”

“what have you done this time little wolf” he said, coming closer to hope and hovering his hand next to her face in a caring gesture.

“im not sure” hope said, tears leaking from her eyes, either at sadness or at joy from seeing her father again, even though it was probably just a dream.

“you just want to be like your dad don’t you” he joked, his own pool of tears rising as he gently moved his fingers over the scrapes and wounds on hopes face.

Hope laughed wetly

“I miss you” she said quietly

“I miss you to, my littlest wolf”

 

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“oh my god! Is she going to be ok?” lizzie asked when her sister stayed silent, staring intently at the wreckage hoping to see the driver get up out of her car shouting reassurances with not a scratch on her body.

“I mean.. there should be safety measures in her car.. she should be fine.. I hope shes fine…” landon replied horrified at the mangled mess that once was hopes prized racer

Josie tuned out the rest of the conversation, her ears ringing. She knew the crowd was horrified but she knew they didn’t care like she did. They didn’t know hope like she did even after only a few weeks.

Josie watched as the paramedic team ripped the door practically off whatever hinges were still in tact and watched as a more lean paramedic crawled into the small opening to get hope out.

She watched as the team carefully but quickly started pulling hope from the wreckage, all it took was a glimpse of one bloody arm (still attached to hope thank god) and josie was off like a speeding bullet, completely ignoring the protests of security and jumping straight down into the track.

She could hear screaming of hopes name. she was pretty sure it was her own voice but she didn’t even care. She watched as the paramedics took hope carefully out of her car by her underarms and she heard the crowd collectively hold their breath as she was loaded onto a stretcher.

She couldn’t tell where hope ended and the paremedics began, the entire team hovering over her as they pulled the gurney through to the lot where the ambulance was parked, a paramedic already there opening the back ready to help load hope into the van. 

The paramedics were hurried but none of them seemed fazed by the mangled mess hope surely was.   
Josie heard her mother and sister yelling her name, chasing her as she ran after the paramedics.

A hand was pushed on her chest stopping her frenzied run.  
“ma’am you cant follow her. Im not sure who you are but clearly you care. You can meet us at the hospital but wont be let in until shes out of surgery, the rules are out of my hands” he said all at once clearly reading the protest held in herself.

She got a sympathetic look from another emt as one hopped in the drivers seat, one in the passengers seat and 2 in the back.

All she saw through her tears was a glimpse of hope, an arm twisted in the wrong direction, blood everywhere, and then the door was slammed closed and the alarm turned on before the ambulance sped away leaving her in the dust.

Lizzie was the first to catch up to her. She didn’t even bother yelling at josie for running into the track and having security chase them all. All she saw was josies fear filled face, tears running down her cheeks and she pulled josie into a hug.

“we’ll meet them at the hospital”

And that was the only thing any of them said before caroline lead the three teens to her mini van

 

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Hope was awakened though she couldn’t open her eyes. She wasn’t actually awake, just more aware that things were happening around her. She knew she was probably in the hospital, if the cool metal table under her was anything to go by. She couldn’t really move or feel anything. Just the light suggestions that people were around her.

She never like hospitals. Disliked the idea of being under the knife even more, but right now while she was sure she was in surgery she felt nothing but calm. It was probably whatever drugs they were pumping into her so they could finish whatever they cut into her to do in the first place.

She wondered what was going on back at the race. She remembered crashing. She doesn’t know if she actually finished it or not or how she even crashed.

Even as all these scary life threatening thoughts were running through her head and the ever present though that she might just be dead right now was at the epicenter of her consciousness, the most important thought in her probably concussed brain was “I want josie”.

Just the thought of seeing josie brought her comfort. She also wished she was at home curled up in bed with her dog as she usually did when she was distressed, but now she wishes josie was with her at home.

It sounds ridiculous considering she only actually met josie 2 ½ weeks ago, but josie quickly became hopes safe space, something she didn’t realize until she was drifting even further back into unconsciousness

 

Ahh drugs. So great

 

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“hey, here for hope mikaelson”

Josie ran into the hospital slamming her hand onto the counter. Surprisingly her words sounded relatively calm and quiet considering the fact that she scared the lady at the front desk into launching her salad halfway across the waiting room when she jumped.

Josie immediately apologized

“well, you wouldn’t be the first one here for hope mikaelson, theres already 30 people who tried to check in to see her and just like I told all of them, shes not out of surgery and no I don’t care how much of a fan you are, we can not put a rush on resetting her bones so you can get an autograph”

Josie looked horrified

“people are actually coming here saying that? Theyre aware she just got into a near fatal car crash…” caroline said, concern evident in her tone

“yep and I turned them away just like im about to turn you away because I highly doubt anyone other than the 2 men sitting in the waiting area for her are going to see her for any reason other than their own selfish gain.”

“excuse you you fucking shit goblin, I will have you know my sister is here to see-“

“lizzie calm down. What she means to say is, we’re close friends of hopes and we’re here to visit her. We understand shes in surgery but can you let us know when we can see her” landon said awkwardly. Josie had been silent since her dramatic entrance.

“take a seat”

 

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It had been 8 hours.

From the time josie met hope at 11 am that day, till the race and the crash until now it had been 8 hours.

Hope had been in surgery for 5 hours, 42 minutes, and 34 seconds. Not that anyone was counting.

It had taken 5 hours, 30 minutes, and 53 seconds from the time josie sat down in the waiting room to the time the group had gotten their first update.

The nurse had said immediate family only. Except, hopes immediate family, or what was left of it was still in new orleans and likely had just heard the news on tv. It was everywhere by now. “daughter of late racecar driver Klaus mikaelson gets into fatal car accident following in his footsteps.” Josie could not look at any television screen, phone screen or anything of that nature without seeing something about the horrible misfortune it must have taken for hope to crash the same way as her father.

It was hilarious in a morbid way. Hope took her fathers number as a racecar driver when she took up her title. Klaus was at a championship race when he died. Except hope isn’t dead. She cant be. She wont die, because if she does josie will revive her and kill her again for putting her through that.

The nurse said “immediate family only” except no one who was waiting there to see her was her immediate family. The closest thing to a parent in that waiting room for her was damon Salvatore. So when the nurse saw all of their faces get more somber if that were possible, she oh so kindly lifted the rule for them. Thank god otherwise josie would flip her shit.

So the entire group consisting of damon, Stefan, josie, lizzie, and caroline went to see her together. (landon was busy picking stuff up for hope).

 

The first thing josie truly realized despite the past 6 hours when she saw those blocky black numbers “420” on the hospital door, is that this is real. She is going to open that door and hope is going to look like she was hit by a bus and josie doesn’t know if she can handle that.

She put her hand on the doorknob and twisted it slowly, carefully pushing the door open dreading what she might find on the other side.

 

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see, probably a full body cast laying on the bed so still you wondered if it was just a plaster mold of a person. However, what she did see was either worse or better depending on the subject.

Hope looked pale. The doctors said it was just the anesthesia and morphines side effects, but hope looked like she was a ghost and josie wondered if maybe the doctors were lying.

She looked so…. Small. She was swimming in hospital issue scrubs that were too big for her and her frail form looked as if it was being swallowed by the bed.

Luckily the room was rather large or everyone wouldn’t fit.

She realized everyone else had taken a seat and she was just standing there. She was just standing at the end of the bed staring at hope like an idiot.

She sat in the chair closest to hopes left side and sunk into it, her eyes never leaving hope.

Josie had never really sat next to someone In a hospital bed so worried for them. No one she was close to had ever really been in a situation like this before.

The constant beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room until the head surgeon, or at least that’s who josie assumed she was entered the room to update everyone.

 

“wow, we have the whole party in here today don’t we? Im Dr.Wolf” she greeted as she entered the room to look over hopes charts

“well, considering the magnitude of the crash shes doing fairly well. She broke her left arm in two places, along with a few ribs and her right ankle, a few lacerations, a dislocated hip which we relocated in case you were wondering and she has a mild/ severe concussion which we will be able to monitor more closely when she wakes up. She will definitely be sore for quite a while especially in the right thigh which was punctured with a piece of the car but it looks like shes going to come through alright. When she wakes up we will assess her a little bit further and give instructions for when she gets out of here. Are there any questions or concerns or anything the medical staff should know to help treat her more effectively?” Dr.Wolf seemed to be short and sweet, no sugar coating. At least everyone would know what they needed to without getting the runaround

 

Lizzie looked like she wanted to say something for a minute but clearly decided against it.

“no questions? Alrighty then, she should wake up in no more than an hour and will probably be pretty groggy from the anesthesia. Push that button on the side of the bed if you guys need anyone and they’ll be over-“

“WAIT” lizzie interrupted abruptly “you guys know everything you need to about her physically yeah? Mental stuff isn’t really necessary?”

Josie looked at her sister confusedly. Mental what exactly?

“well, if it will affect how we go about treating her we need to know, otherwise its really none of our business”

Lizzie made a mental note to ask landon if the hospital should know anything.

“is that all?” Dr.Wolf asked

“yeah, that’s it, thanks for letting me know”

“No problem, remember red button and staff will be over to help you” and then doctor turned on her heel and left the group alone again.

Lizzies phone chimed with a new message.

“landon says he should be over in no more than 20 minutes”

 

“mental what exactly?” josie blurted out in question

“nothing, it was just a question, since landon knows the most about her…”

Damon spoke up “don’t worry blondie, they know what they need to. Whatever youre talking about probably isn’t really necessary information for them and will probably make it worse”  
Damon continued playing on his phone, as if he wasn’t freaking out worrying about hope in the bed next to him.

The group proceeded to sit in silence, awkwardly as ever.

 

“im getting hot chocolate, anyone want anything?” caroline asked abruptly, figuring she should leave and hopefully relieve some tension in the crowded room.

There were a few grumbles but no one gave a verbal answer.

“ill take that as a yes so I don’t have to get up twice”

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“hey, im here to see hope mikaelson? What room is she in? I was here earlier but I guess everyone is allowed to see her now…” landon said, tightening his grip on dogs leash as if he was going to run off or something.

“sorry sir, we don’t allow pets…” the receptionist trailed off, pointing at dog.

“he’s a service dog” landon clarified quickly.

“sir that vest is clearly fake. Im gonna need to see some paperwork”

Landon was both scared and a little pissed off at the lady in front of him.

“he’s not my service dog”

“then who’s is he?” the receptionist asked, completely uninterested and probably not even paying attention.

“he’s hope mikaelsons service dog.”

“nice try, im going to need you to leave and either come back without the dog or not come back at all sir”

Landon was shocked. Dog was obviously service trained with an official vest and tag and this lady wasn’t even bothering to check.

“ma’am his tag is on his collar if you want to take a look? Hope kind of needs him especially right now” landon said. He knew hope was afraid of hospitals ever since what happened with her mom 6 years ago. Even before then hospitals always gave her the heeby jeebies as she told him once.

“im sorry sir im going to have to ask you to leave”

“this is ridiculous, you aren’t even looking at the tag! Hes a service dog and hes needed with hope to provide a service. Is there anyone I can talk to about this?”

“sir, I highly doubt it. Hope is a perfectly capable human being and obviously doesnt need a service dog. You have to be disabled to have one and she doesn’t look disabled”

“you are aware that some disabilities aren’t visible correct? If you would look at the collar on him you would see his issued tag that states his reason for training. He has papers in this side pouch too but I cant really get to it, my hands are full here”

And it was true, landon had an entire backpack on his back, but honestly he was more afraid that dog would go running to find hope if he released the leash since he was trained to find hope when she would wander as a kid.

“whats going on here?”

 

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“where is that freaking vending area….”

 

“this is ridiculous! You aren’t even looking at the tag!”

Is that landon? Caroline followed the shouting all the way to the front of the building. He was arguing with a lady that looked to be around her mid thirties

 

“-you have to be disabled to have a service dog and hope doesn’t look disabled”

“you are aware not all disabilities are visible right?-“

Caroline continued walking to help landon.

The receptionist continued arguing with landon about a fluffy Labrador retriever in a service dog vest.

 

“what’s going on here?” she asked, coming over to help landon who looked pretty helpless

 

“this man is trying to take a pet into the facility, now please stay out of it miss”

“ma’am I hate to burst your bubble but this is a service dog…. Landon does he have papers on him?”

“yes in the side” landon looked so grateful that caroline was actually helping out. It was incredibly convenient that she was there and knew what to do.

The blonde woman pulled a few folded papers out of the pouch in dogs vest and handed them to the receptionist

She read over them for a few seconds before sheepishly handing back the papers with a scowl on her face.

“room 420”

Caroline put the papers back into the pouch

Neither one of them said anything more and walked straight past the bitch at the desk

“I didn’t know you had a service dog, oh theres the machine”

Caroline lead landon over to a drink dispenser 

“I don’t, he’s hopes”

Caroline didn’t even look slightly surprised

“oh? Cool. Whats his name?”

“Dog”

Caroline chuckled  
“dog huh? Interesting name” she said as she put the lids onto a few cups and stacked them.

The pair started walking again “yeah, that’s hope for you. She named him when she was like 9 years old before he got out of training as a puppy”  
“that’s cute” 

Caroline thanked god that the door was already open and she didn’t have to maneuver the cups around

“I got chocolate!”  
“oh hey mo-… whats with the dog…” lizzie started

“tis hopes”

“I see”

Landon dropped the backpack next to josies chair and unclipped dogs leash. He walked next to the bed and sniffed hopes hand before whining and licking her arm. He whined some more and sat on the floor next to the bed putting his head under her hand and sighing.

“how long has she been asleep?” landon asked

“she hasnt woken up yet. The doctor said around an hourish so she should be waking up any minute now” Stefan said.

“Any updates?”   
“just a dislocated hip, broken ankle, broken arm, broken ribs, an almost stab wound on her right thigh, a concussion, and then your average bumps and bruises, no biggie” damon said sarcastically.

“you know mophead, I might not show it but hopes kind of become like a daughter to me these past few years, don’t tell her I said anything or ill weave a scarf from your veins and wear it to your funeral”

Landon laughed. More genuine than any of them have even smiled since the crash

“no worries old man. You know, I thought id be playing world of warcraft right now” he said, eyes never leaving hopes face.

“I thought I’d be out eating pizza with hope” josie said. She didn’t know when she had taken hopes hand but it had been a while of josie just caressing her knuckles

“I thought id be in the car stalking you with mom while you ate pizza with hope” lizzie said

The group heard a cough from hope

“ow. I t-hought id be… pl-aying so shit-ty arcade games… totally kic-king yo-ur ass”

“hope!”


End file.
